he comes armed with Authority from the Chief Priests to bind all that call on thy Name Well Ananias do what thou art bidden for though it is true that he hath been a vile Wretch a cruel and malicious Enemy fear him not the Wolf is turned into a Lamb It is no matter what formerly he was he is now quite another thing and is acted by a far better Spirit He is a new man and thou mayst take this for a certain and undoubted evidence of it He is a Praying-man He that before spake nothing but blasphemies and outrages against Christ and breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord did now that he was converted and sanctified speak supplications It is the fashion of a great many when the Lord's day comes they will go out to hear and they are for variety this man and that and twenty more possibly three Sermons upon a day peradventure four and I do not blame any for being swift to hear it is an excellent thing to see Christians hungry and of good appetites so that they do but allow themselves necessary time for concoction and be not wanting to personal and Family duties but Conscience do thou speak and that loud enough to make guilty Persons hear and feel too be there not some of these who at home are never upon their knees before God If a man could look into their Houses and into their Chambers he would find that Prayer is quite shut out from thence And for my part I cannot but tell you That let these Persons hold their heads never so high and have obtained never so great a name I can look upon them as being no better than a company of walking Ghosts such as do really want an inward vital principle and are carried up and down from one Congregation to another by some external consideration Prayer is a breathing in Heaven's Air it is the breathing of the Soul in the bosome of God it draws in spirit and life from him and then again it pours out and empties it self into him and it is full out as possible for a man to live a natural life without natural breathing as it is for him to live a spiritual life without spiritual breathing I mean without Prayer You know when God promiseth his Spirit Zechar. 12. 10. he doth it in these Expressions I will pour out upon the House of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications Wheresoever the Spirit of God comes and dwells in the Soul as a Spirit of Grace there he doth certainly act as a Spirit of Supplications and the Apostle Paul saith Rom. 8. 15. That the Sons of God receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father Which imports a filial boldness and confidence in dealing with him by fervent Prayer I remember what you may meet in 1 Cor. 13. 1 c. Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels though I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge though I have all faith so as to remove mountains though I bestow all my goods on the poor and give my body to be burned yet if I have not Charity it profits me nothing I am nothing but as a meer sounding brass and â—inkling cymbal What he there speaks of Charity or Love which doth indeed make Actions lovely in the sight of God and men and puts a lustre and beauty upon them the very same may be affirmed concerning Prayer Let a man be never so well accomplished never so raised in his attainments never so fluent and warm in his discourses never so eminent for his profession never so frequent and attentive in his hearing never so abundant in acts of Charity yet if he be a prayerless Person he is nothing nothing in Religion nothing to purpose all his parts and performances though many and specious will amount to nothing in Heaven's Arithmetick they will be of no more significancy than so many Cyphers without a Figure to put a value into them That which I have said amounts to thus much To live without Prayer is utterly inconsistent with a gracious and holy frame and all that such an one doth will never turn him to a good account You may as soon live a spiritual life without Faith as live by Faith without Prayer for as was before observed they that believe will speak When God hath kindled a spark of Grace in the Soul it will be working in a way of Prayer that spark will fly upward and carry the Soul along with it Thus we find it in Psal. 39. 3. My heart was hot within me while I mused the fire burned then spake I with my tongue What did he speak Prayers Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my days Therefore my advice is that you would either take up Prayer and follow it as a principal part of a Christians work or else lay down your Profession boast not of a filial Relation to God while thou art not possessed with a filial spirit and disposition Never talk of your being acquainted with God and some of his Friends when in all your lives you never spake one serious hearty word to him If you are resolved to live without Prayer be so just and reasonable as to put off the honourable name Christian which doth by no means belong to you and call your selves Heathens Beasts nay which is worse though not too bad for you down-right practical Atheists Secondly Your Condition at the present is very miserable though you know it not so long as you live without Prayer you live without a blessing whatsoever may light upon you the blessing of God is the portion of a praying People If you will look into the Book of God which I believe you seldom do for those that will not beg his mercy will not labour to know his will you may see how much it cost Esau to get a blessing from his Father Isaac he shed many tears and lifted up loud cries Gen. 27. 33 34. Isaac told him that one had brought him Venison which he had eaten of and he blessed him and he should be blessed It is said When Esau heard the words of his Father he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry and said unto his Father Bless me even me also O my Father and when Isaac answered vers 37. Behold I have made him thy Lord and all his Brethren have I given to him for Servants and with corn and wine have I sustained him and what shall I do now unto thee my Son Vers. 38. Esau said unto his Father Hast thou but one blessing my Father Bless me even me also O my Father and Esau lifted up his voice and wept What art thou so poor O my Father as that in giving one blessing thou hast given away all Hast thou not reserved one And all this he was fain to do before he could obtain Yea and it
thing of the Pharisee Thirdly When thou art alone in prayer make it thy great desire and care to be with God In all thy approaches to him and in all thine appearances before him make sure that thou be with him The Psalmist could say Psal. 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee this some understand of the constancy of God's kindness Though the most vigilant of the Saints sometimes fall into sleepiness and drowsiness of spirit that they perceive not God's presence with them nor care over them nor love to them yet when the Lord awakeneth up their Souls and reneweth their spiritual senses they are made to see and acknowledge that the Lord doth never leave them no not when they least perceive his presence But others do by this understand the gracious frame and workings of David's Spirit He was every morning with God as soon as ever he opened his eyes he directed them to God God was the excellent and endeared Object that he would first converse with and bestow his morning visit upon I am still with thee by meditation Oh that thou couldest say the same in truth as to this duty of Prayer Lord when I am at prayer I am still with thee I am often upon my knees and I am as often with my God I Iohn 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. Do you press after that a fellowship with God do you enquire for that as Elisha when he had got the Mantle which his Master had dropt he cried out Where is the Lord God of Elijah so do you here is the Prayer but where is the fellowship Truly that Person is both wickedly and miserably alone in his duty who is not with God in duty He sins greatly in it and he shall get nothing by it That is an accursed privacy out of which the great and ever-blessed God is excluded He is indeed with thee in all places in thy greatest retirements Psal. 139. 8. If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hell thou art there So if thou art in the Congregation God is there if in the Chamber God is there if in the Field God is there He fills all places and he takes notice of all persons and of all their Actions but that is not enough no gracious Soul that doth indeed love him will sit down satisfied with that While God is with thee by his Omnipresence observing thee and all thy ways what duties thou dost and how thou dost them it must be thy great care to be with God in a way of holy meditation and affection to have the thoughts dwelling with God the desires running out to God and the delights feasting upon God Have a care that when you pretend to be alone in your duty you do not lay the reins upon your necks and allow your minds in their loose and vain exâ—ursions Christian go to thy duty and go to thy God too So that good man wisely resolved Psal. 43. 3 4. O send out thy light and truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy hill and to thy tabernacles then will I go unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy He would not stop at the Altar but get up to the God who was worshipped there and when thou art with him keep with him as close as thou canst let no temptation draw thee away Fourthly Whensoever thou art in secret before God reveal all thy secrets to him deal plainly and openly with him anatomize thy Soul in his presence tell him all that is in thine heart and all that thou remembrest hath been in thy life and do not hide any thing from him whatsoever thine own Conscience preacheth to thee do thou go and repeat it all to God confess to him those evil Actions thou didst in a corner and under the covert of darkness though no mortal eye saw them nor can any body charge thee with them The keeping back of part of thy sins may be thy ruine as well as keeping back part of the price of the Land and covering the fraud with a lie was the death of Ananias and Sapphira Acknowledge to him those heart-corruptions which did never come into act the law in the members that warreth against the law in your mind the sin that dwelleth in you that cursed root of bitterness which lieth under ground the vicious fountain that is continually boiling and bubling up in filthy thoughts and vile affections though it never sent forth such muddy and abominable streams as run in an impetuous and rapid manner in the lives of others overflowing all the banks that Religion and Reason do set them In a word Do thou thy self acquaint God with the plague of thine heart which threatens the life of thy Soul though there be no spots to be seen by others upon thee though it doth not shew it self in botches and boils I have already told you that though you need not let men know not your dearest intimate and most faithful Friends know all that you are chargeable with yet you are bound to do so to God and it is indeed no other than a giving of him the glory of his Omniscience and if you do it as you ought in a believing way the glory of his Mercy and Goodness too as being a God ready to forgive and multiply pardons Besides as I have said it is in vain to hide any thing from him because he seeth all searcheth the hearts possesseth the reins and hath our most secret sins in the light of his countenance He that covers his sins shall not prosper not in that action when men go to eover God will come to discover Adam having sinned went like a guilty Malefactor to hide himself but God knew where he was and fetcht him out with a word Achan having stoln the wedge of Gold and two hundred pieces of Silver and a goodly Babylonish Garment went and hid them in the earth in the midst of his Tent but God made him fetch them out again When all is done plain-dealing is best specially when you have to deal with God And let me here add That freedom and openness of heart in a way of humble confession unto God is a very good argument of a gracious frame of heart and speaks a person acted by an ingenuous filial spirit that he is no friend to sin no admirer of himself but willing to load himself that so he might the more loath himself and work his heart into the greater admirings of that patience which notwithstanding so many affronts hath so long born with him and that grace which notwithstanding so great provocations doth yet open to him a door of hope And take one thing with you further this freedom and openness of heart in confessing your sins to God is a singular
A DISCOURSE OF CLOSET or SECRET PRAYER FROM MATT. VI. 6. First Preached and now Published at the Request of those that heard it BY SAMUEL SLATER Mininister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Ionathan Robinson and Tho. Cockerill at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Leggs in the Poultry over against the Stocks-Market MDCXCI To that Flock of Christ over which the Holy-Ghost hath made me an Overseer Beloved in the Lord IF Sins and Troubles make times bad those have been so in which our lines have been cast as great and glorious light hath shin'd in our Horizon as in any since the Apostle's Age yet the works of darkness have abounded among us Superstition Persecution and Prophaneness Great numbers among us hate the light of Truth and gladly would have it extinguished And who can count those who walk as enemies to the Cross of Christ whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame We have had fierce disputes and hot contentions Veluti pro aris focâ—s for lifeless Forms and Ceremonies not worth a button which have been bones of Contention in the Church of God ever since the Reformation and will continue so to be till Men are grown wise enough to cast them out but at the same time the Vitals of Christianity and Power of Godliness have been forgotten and neglected nay by the generality such Christians there are in our days ridicul'd and hated so that many live direct contradictions to the Profession they make and throw dirt upon that Name in which they would be thought to Glory The grand design indeed driven on among us hath been to reduce these Nations to the See of Rome and to bring in Popery among us in order whereunto Men taught by the Devil and wise to do evil have by their Hellish and Cursed Examples introduc'd prophandenss for none so fit to make a Doctrinal Papist as one that is a Practical Atheist How far these persons have prevailed and this Nation hath been by them immoralized and debauched and all ranks of Men among us Clergy as well as Laity Nobility and Commons Gentlemen and Peasants vitiated both in Principles and Life is alas too obvious and visible to any one that hath an eye in bit head And if ever God hath a purpose to do this Nation good and to deliver us form implacable enemies and menacing dangers and after all ou fears and convulsions and shakings to settle â—uâ— upon sure and lasting foundations he will reform us I wish that every one would reform himself and save cur Rules a labour if they will not I wish that our Governours would imploy then power and as they are providing as necessity requires against a potent Adversary abroad they would by the vigorous execution of wholesoâ—â— Laws against overflowing sins within which most expose us to ruin because to Divine wrath and thereby if I may so speak save God a labour But if they will not do their work God will do his It is my hope that he will not for sake this pleasant Land in which he hath so great an interest but mend it that he might delight in it though in what way and by what means whether by some smarting Rod or stiâ—ging Scorpion teaching us by Briars and Thorns letting out the corrupt Blood by tremendous Iudgments or more gently by the Word it is not for me to determine that we must leave to him whose wisdom is unsearchable and his ways past finding out Though I cannot but hope well from his gracious opening such a wide and effectual door to hiâ— glorious Gospel and giving to it so free a passage as blessed be his name we see at this day and restoring a desired and welcome liberty of Preaching to many of his faithful and eminent Servants who had by severe Laws been driven and kept out of the Vineyard for which many of them who had an hand in making those Laws have answered at the highest and most dreadful Tribunal and the rest shall in due time too soon for them The good Lord grant that while the Gospel runs it may be glorified by attaining is most excellent and noble end in the hearts and lives of those who sit under the joyful sound thereof that so Religion may recover its pristine Lustre yea shine forth with a greater glory than it did in the days of our most famous Predecessors Altogether unexpectedly to me It pleased the great God whose right it is to dispose of us according to his good pleasure to call me to Minister to you in the Gospel of his Son after he had taken home to an everlasting Rest and fulness of Ioy in and with himself your former Learned and every-way accomplished Pastor whose death was as it deserved to be bitterly bewailed by you In the same Relation to you he hath continued me for almost these Fifteen years during which space of time variety of Providences have passed over our heads we have met with both Halcion and Tempestuous days but we must we are obliged togive an honourable report of him as having been to us a shadow from the heat and a shelter from the storm so that few of our Sabbaths have been in the fury of the times Fasting-days throughout and very fâ—w of our Meeting disturbed and violently broken up But as he was pleased to give me an heart to Preach so you had from him an heart to hear and however some that went off from us have tack'd about and defiled their Garments the most of you have weathered the point born the burnt kept your ground and found mercy to be faithful to the Cause you owned not sinfully complying with the Lusts of Men nor submitting to their impositions and unscriptural mixtures with and in things pertaining to Divine Worship upon which account among many others I can look upon you as those that have been and yet are and will I hope go on to be my Ioy and Crown I can call God to witness that I love you in truth and have both sincerely and earnestly desir'd your good endeavouring to the utmost of my ability to make known unto you the whole Counsel of God not putting you off with Rhetorical flourishes the enticing words of Man's wisdom new and empty notions Philosophical strains and inventions of Men but with that Bread that came down from Heaven nourishing you up to Eternal Life determining to know nothing among you but Iesus Christ and him Crucified who is the admiration of Angels and worthy to be the desire of all Nations but too little Preached in England in London at this day and too little valued and believed in He hath been the great subject of my Discourses among you while as you will bear me testimony I have not sought yours but you And as you did chuse your Cook so you have liked the Provision be drest and set upon your Board having been for the greatest part as constant in your attendance upon
Praise O let our Life on Earth be a Life of Prayer There our Souls will have an Eternal Repose in him Here let our Souls fâ—llow hard after him But this Epistle sâ—vells too big 't is high time to draw to a Close My hearts desire and Prayer for you all is That you may be saved and that you may work out your Salvation with fear and trembling If you and I get to Heaven at last it matters not what storms we meet with here It is but a little while and all our hard work and sharp conflicts and sour afflictions will have an end and then we shall see God and manage Everlasting Triumphs sinning and sighing wanting and weeping no more Watch while you live in the midst of Enemies walk while you have the light and mind your work while you have any to do Husband your time improve your seasons trade with your Talents fill your Relations with Duty and in all things adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour It is your professed desire to enjoy pure Ordinances and an holy Communion Oh that there may be none among you that profane those Ordinances and pollute that Communion First look to your hearts then to your ways and make and keep both as clean as you can Be much in minding your selves not in censuring others their infirmities do you pity and labour to get your own healed Your stay and mine here is not like to be long and we mine here is not like to be long and we need not care how short it is so the great work for which we were sent be finished before we go When we are once in Heaven we shall not need the World and the Church will not need us for God hath the residue of the Spirit and can set others in our places who shall fill them better than we have done While I am continued among you I shall by Grace assisting make it my business to help your Faith and Ioy do you work together with me and God with us all Be friends to your selves and one another why are you brought into an holy Communion but in order to mutual edification And our life is not to be measured so much by the multitude of days or plenty of enjoyments as by usefulness He that doth most service shall have the greatest commendation and weightiest Crown Now commending you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them which are satisfied I rest Your Servant for Jesus sake SAMUEL SLATER From my Study Novemb. 24. 1690 MATTHEW VI. 6. But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret THese words are a little part of our dear Saviour's first Sermon and the longest that ever he Preached full of excellent matter most worthy of the Preacher most proper and profitable for the Hearers it abounds with wholesom and excellent Counsels and affords most precious and cordial Comforts They that would taste his Comforts must follow his Counsels and as they desire that Christ would admit them into Heaven when they dye they must be very careful while they live to observe and practice what he taught while he was here upon Earth Learn of him as a Prophet if you would be advanced by him as King In the beginning of this Chapter he commands his Disciples and Followers to take heed Caution becomes Christians their Case calls loudly for it the life which they live in the flesh requires a great deal of caution for the leading of it that it might not be a vain and empty life a low and unworthy life and the duties of Religion to the doing of which they are engaged requires as much that they may not be spoiled by them nor rejected by God nor thrown as dung into their faces Take heed O Professors how you live and walk and carry in the World weigh all your actions and ponder the path of your feet Take heed what you hear and how you hear take heed how you pray for what and in what manner take heed how you converse and with whom take heed how you eat and drink and buy and sell how you think and speak Take heed that you avoid all sinful things and that you do not sin in any lawful things There is a great deal of unseen danger there is a multitude of snares subtilly and privily laid and we are very prone to miscarry to fall into those dangers and be caught in those snares We have need to be circumspect and wary Take heed therefore remembering and considering He gives the charge who loves you dearly and knows better than you what need there is of it Our Lord in particular gives this direction and caution concerning the ordinary works of Alms-giving and Prayer and that extraordinary duty of Fasting all which are so good and excellent in themselves that he would not have them spoil'd by any of his Servants whatever they are by others who will needs pretend to him while they have no more of him than the name and that which as to these things he doth in general caution them about is That they be not as the Hypocrites Hypocrisy is a thing exceeding odious unto God An Ape is most like a Man but is not one and of all creatures he is most deformed An Hypocrite is of all others most like a Saint but is not and of all Sinners he is most hateful He shall not stand before God but be banished furthest from him The worst darkest hottest place in Hell is his apartment God doth so much loath Hypocrites that he doth not allow his Children to resemble them He would not have them to be Hypocrites nay he would not have them to be as Hypocrites When thou giâ—est Alms do not sound a Trumpet as the Hypocrites do Instead of letting the world do not let thy left hand know what thy â—ight hand doth When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues They do not love to do good without having many Witnesses of the good they do As if that Duty were lost from which they do not reap the praise of Men. When thou fastest be not as the Hypocrites of a sad countenance They love to put on a sour face but never look after nor care for a broken and contrite heart Thus our Lord and Master would not have his followers to conform to them Do not fashion your selves like them get not into their mode and dress though it seem great and handsome Be ye followers of God as dear Children in all things Keep as close to him as ever you can Put on the Lord Jesus be ye cloathed all over with Christ That as near as may be nothing but Christ and his Spirit and Vertues may be seen in you but be not like the Hypocrites in any thing An Hypocrite
shalt make to thy self no graven Image Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day So here Thou when thou prayest Christ would have every one that nameth his Name that takes upon him the Profession of being one of his People to make a particular application of this to himself and to look upon this counsel as given and this charge as laid upon him Thou Thomas when thou prayest do this and thou Iohn when thou prayest do this and so thou Matthew and thou Andrew and so every one that was then alive or that shall live in any Age or place of the World It is spoken to you and to me and to all do thou enter into thy Chamber thou alone and shut the door upon thee not upon others with thee but upon thee and so pray unto thy Father get alone saith Christ and pray alone do it when there is no body by none to see thee none to overhear thee God and an holy Soul are very good company when it goes out with tears and he meets it with smiles when it draws up its Confessions and he seals its Pardons it breathes out holy desires and longings and he affords it gracious answers and in them satisfactions it states its case tells its Diseases open its Sores and he applies easing and healing remedies In a word When the Soul fires its Sacrifice and then in the holy flame thereof the blessed Angel of the Covenant doth wonderfully It is oftentimes good for the Saints to go one with another into the presence of their Father they have been called upon to strive together in prayer and that in Family duties or in publick Ordinances or in cases of common concernment but there is no Christian who hath not his own wants and his own pressures and his own bitternesses and upon these accounts it is best for him to go alone and thou canst not tell O holy Soul what special favour God may shew thee what token of love he may put into thy hand when there is no body by When disconsolate Hannah had been watering her plants weeping greatly alone pouring out her Soul in tears and prayers before the Lord she had such an impress upon her Spirit such a message of peace whisper'd to her as made her glad at heart and on a sudden dried up all her tears so that her countenance was no more sad Thou if thou engagest in this work in thine uprightness mayst believingly and comfortably expect the same in God's time However set this down with thy self and act accordingly That Secret Prayer is thy unquestionable duty by virtue of a Divine Command 4. Lastly There is a very gracious promise made to Secret Prayer and here I shall lay down this Assertion as worthy your taking notice of That the great God doth not make promises to any thing which he doth not require and which is not acceptable and pleasing to him and which accordingly is not duty in man Promises do follow Precepts and are designed for the strengthening of our hearts and hands the encouraging us to Acts of Obedience and the sweetning those Obediential Acts to us He is angry at those who offer to do those things in matters of his Worship for which they have not his Warrant Hence such enquiry as this Isa. 1. 12. Who hath required this at your hands viz. to come in such a manner And hence also that Complaint and Charge That they burn their Sons and Daughters in the fire made a Sacrifice of them which as he saith Ier. 7. 31. He commanded them not neither entred it into his heart David's Design was good and it pleased God that he had an heart so set for his honour yet it was a rebuke and check to him that God sent him this message by Nathan 2 Sam. 7. 7. In all the places wherein I have walked with the Children of Israel spake I a word with any of the Tribes of Israel whom I commanded to feed my poople Israel saying Why build ye not me an house of Cedar From whence saith Peter Martyr we learn that David failed in attempting such a thing when he had not a word for it from God from whom he ought to have expected and waited for a peculiar command as to the thing and time and place Those that run on such Errands as God never sent them on and presume to do such works as God never set them about or will venture to do his work in a way of their own cannot with any shadow of reason expect a reward from his hand let them get one where they can Why should God pay them for doing that which is none of his work or for doing it after their own fashion Nadab and Abihu did the work of God in offering Incense but they did it after their own fashion in making use of strange fire and it cost them their lives they found God not a bountiful Rewarder but a dreadful Revenger When Promises are made by God to any thing they do plainly speak that thing to which those Promises are made a duty Now we find here in the Text a great and gracious promise made by our Lord Iesus to secret Prayer Do this saith he when thou prayest enter into thy chamber and shut thy door about thee study all possible privacy and retirement let no body know of that which thou goest about if thou canst help it do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in secret there is Christ's Counsel and it must needs be good because given by him in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and whose name is Wonderful Counsellour now take with you the Promise annexed to this Counsel Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly God will not send one single Petitioner empty from his Throne of Grace though thou goest begging yet thou shalt return rejoycing Abraham the Father of the Faithful had bowels of compassion yearning over his wicked Neighbours he prayed in secret for â—ilthy Sodom There was no body to back him in that Suit nor to plead together with him that City was indeed so bad that he was both ashamed and afraid to appear as an Advocate for them and therefore he did more than once deprecate the Divine displeasure Oh let not the Lord be angry yet observe how mighty he was with God He lifted up prayer after prayer and God condescended to him again and again Single and solitary Abraham had such a great interest and success that the glorious and provoked God did not give over granting until Abraham had given over praying By what hath been said I hope the first thing promised is performed namely it is made plain and evident That Secret-prayer is the Christian's duty We now proceed to the Second which is to prove That if it be rightly managed it will be his advantage and to that end I shall only shew that it will afford him these two
things 1. Safety 2. Comfort 1. First Secret Prayer is a choice and excellent means of Security would a Man be safe when he is alone then let him pray when he is alone On this side of Heaven there is not any one place to be sound in which a person may rationally look upon himself as quite out of the reach of danger I heard one once wittily say He did not upon the Road fear Highway-men so long as be was alone But there are other enemies from whom we may apprehend mischief when we are most alone The subtil Serpent wrigled himself into Paradise it self and there he did mortally sting our first Parents and undid them and all their posterity in them Holy Paul was perfectly safe while he continued in the third Heaven the malicious Tempter could not come at him there since he was cast down from that blessed place He never yet could and for the future he never shall make a re-entry nor is his Arm strong enough to shoot an Arrow or throw a fiery Dart so high But no sooner was that eminent Apostle come down again but he was desperately set upon worse than the Philistins were upon him there was a Thorn stuck in his flesh which could not but put him to pain and a Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him who without peradventure gave him no small blows One would conclude a person safe enough when no-body is with him as there is none to help so there is none to hurt yet even then he may be in danger for though there be no Man with him yet there is a Devil with him yea more than one possibly more than a Legion It might have been rationally concluded That David walking upon the top of his House did not stand in need of his Life-guard about him Who was that should or could do the King a mischief there Yet even there a Naked Woman conquered that Man of War and a malicious Devil let fly one of his envenom'd Arrows and wounded him to the very heart by the eye It had been well for that good Man if instead of gazing about and viewing every object that presented he had been looking up to his God and praying in secret Know and consider O thou poor Soul the Devil hath a mind to thee not out of any Love he bears thee for there is no such thing in Devils they must cease to be Devils before they can have any kindness for Men But he hath a mind to you as a roaring Lion hath to his prey and in pursuance of his bloody design he is restless though he can do himself no good he reckons it worth his while to do thee a mischief and therefore he doth not only walk with thee up and down in the Street and from this private or publick House to that nor only follow thee to the publick Congregation there to divert thy thoughts or deaden thy affections or direct thine eye to some vain and wanton object or pick up the seed which is sown that though it be cast in at the ear yet it may never reach so far as the heart to root there and bring forth precious fruit in the Life and Conversation but he will also dog you into your Chambers and intrude into your Closets when the Door is shut he will get in you cannot while here get clear of the old Man and the old Serpent and where-ever he is you may be sure He comes for no good He is wholly set upon mischief that is his constant imploy his beloved work his heart is set upon it he follows it close and with all his might Therefore my advice is That thou wouldest make Prayer thy Closet-business that when this implacable Enemy of thine finds thee alone he may not have an advantage against thee When in Ephes. 6. the Apostle Paul had told you of the Enemies you must contend with that they are not only flesh and blood but also principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places he advised you to put on the whole Armour of God and over and above he directed you to this excellent and necessary work of Prayer as knowing that both your security and victory depend as much upon that as any thing Your Armour will not do without your God and him you cannot expect without Prayer If then you would not fall both into temptation and by it your care and work must be to watch and pray and I do not in the least doubt but Prayer hath laid many a restraint upon the Devil and kept him off from medling with a Child of God when his fingers have itch'd at him and blunted his tools often and often so that he could not do the work he intended with them and broken the neck of many a cursed design which he was most industriously carrying on 2. Secondly Secret Prayer is a special way for the making of your retirement comfortable and pleasant to you Solitariness is looked upon as having Melancholly for its usual Companion and a Life of loneliness and retirement is reckon'd a very disconsolate Life The Prophet made this a part of his bitter complaint Psal. 102. 7. That he was as a sparrow alone upon the house top And Solomon saith Eccles. 4. 10. Wo be to him that is alone Hence one said He that loves to be alone is either a Beast or a God But Secret-Prayer is an excellent way to sweeten solitariness and take off the uncomfortableness of it If thou dost but in thine uprightness apply thy self heartily to this work when thou art without any Company thou shalt not be without matter of rejoycing but with Hagar in the Wilderness find a Spring opened to thee That was a great saying of one Nunquam minus solus quam cum maxime solus I am never less alone than when I am most alone He did never find less want of Company than when he had none then a Man enjoys his God and himself and he that hath indeed that enjoyment needs no body Iohn 16. 32. Our Saviour spake thus to his Disciples The hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered every man to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the father is with me Not alone when alone I shall be altogether without you but not without my Father who doth more infinitely more than fill up those vacancies as at noon-day we do not want the Stars though they be all obscur'd and disappear because we have the glorious Light and Beams of the Sun who doth abundantly supply their absence David tells us in Psalm 145. 18. which is a Psalm of Praise That the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Sincere Prayer will fetch God down from Heaven to stand at thy right hand Our Heavenly Father is more ready than the most affectioâ—ate tender-hearted Mother upon Earth to arise and come in at the cry
of the Child In Psalm 18. we find that good Man in his distress called upon the Lord and cried unto his God and God heard him Divine Love is quick of hearing He heard my voice out of his holy temple and my cry came before him even into his ears And now observe what haste God made to his Servant Vers. 9 10. He bowed the Heavens and came dewn He rode upon a Cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind When Holy David wanted his God God would be with him presently I dare assure thee O Saint if thou wilt but get thy Soul upon the Wing and by the hand of servent believing Prayer knock at Heavens door thou shalt to thy comfort find that thy beloved will not be long from thee no no he will be sure graciously to return thy Visit he will come and drop some sweet smelling Myrrh upon the handles of thy lock Secret Prayer is the nearest and readiest way to secret and intimate Communion with God as it is an opening of the heart to God so it makes way for God's opening of his heart to the Saint and when that is opened what blessed discoveries are made what treasures appear and riches of Grace what counsels of Wisdom and thoughts of good and great designs the very sight of which is ravishing and may well put the Soul into a transport When guilty but convinced Ephraim got alone and made his reflections and thereupon bemoan'd himself for his former folly stubbornness and obstinacy and begged hard for converting turning Grace God presently turned toward him and with yearning Bowels spake his love this resolution was immediately taken up I will surely have mercy upon him In a word God doth sometimes in displeasure withdraw from his sinning Children but it is with a resolution to be found of them when they seek him and to return to them when he is sent for Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledg their offence and seek my face I will stay away I will not come near them I will have nothing to do with them till they do this but let them do it as soon as they will and they shall meet with acceptance I will rise out of my place and visit them with Salvation He will be sure to come at Prayers call if some crying sin or other do not drown the voice of it and his Presence and Beams will effectually scatter the thickest and blackest Clouds the light of his countenance when once lifted up will make it a day of gladness to the most benighted Soul Whenever he comes he will be sure to bring a blessing along with him and so appear unto its joy These particulars to which I have largely spoken are I hope sufficient to prove that Secret Prayer is both your Duty and your Interest and so I have done with the Doctrinal part and shall now proceed to the improvement of it by Application which will be twofold 1. For Reprehension 2. For Exhortation The use of Reprehension or Reproof shall be directed to three sorts of persons who do indeed deserve to fall under it and oh that it may come with such power as to make them fall before it and issue in their amendment of those things which by the light of Truth breaking in upon them they shall see to be amiss First They are sharply to be reproved for they are deeply guilty before God who instead of making Conscience and living in the performance of Secret Prayer are altogether strangers to and live in the total neglect of all Prayer They do not know what it is to approach unto the Throne of God and to pour out their Souls before him they go to their Beds at night like Swine to their Sty not begging Divine protection and rise out of them in a morning and go about their business without paying any acknowledgments to their great Benefactor under the Wing of whose careful Providence they were secured yea sit down to their Tables without asking God's Blessing as if they had no dependence upon him and when they have eaten and are full rise up to work or play without giving God Thanks as if they were not at all beholden to him And thus they live Prayerless lives in the World They have passed many days and escaped many dangers and received many mercies and committed many sins but never set themselves at least in good earnest to put up one Prayer Oh how do they tumble out by wholesale an innumerable company of execrable Oaths and tremendous Curses which speaks their Tongues the Devils Instruments set on fire with the fire of Hell but no body ever saw them upon their knees before God nor heard a word of Prayer drop from their Lips They have had many Dangers prevented but never sought refuge nor took shelter in God They have every day received multitudes of Mercies but did never solemnly beg one God did in the time of the Old Testament order that the Fire of the Altar should never go out and appointed the morning and evening sacrifice but poor creatures these have no fire their hearts are as cold as Ice they know not what true love to God means and having no fire in themselves God shall have no sacrifice from them his Altars shall be empty they have nothing to lay on from the beginning of the year to the end of it How many are there that never made an attempt this way never tried to Pray never went about the work They in the pride of their countenances will not seek after God He is not in all their thoughts Ps. 10. 4. In all of them He is but in few of them and when he is in any when he forcibly breaks in upon them and makes his own way for they never invite him nor study to think of him he is not welcome nor grateful to them I fear if a man should come and ask some of you such a question as this Friend Neighbour what intercourses are there between God and you what converse and fellowship have you with God do you pray a-days do you pray by your selves in your Chambers or with your Families are you some of that blessed wrestling Generation who seek the face of the God of Jacob if you would speak the truth and not cover your sin and shame with a lie you must answer No not I God knows I cannot pray I do not know how to pray I never went about it I see no need of it I have no heart to it may we not say of these what Agur said of himself Prov. 30. 2. Surely they are more bruitish than any man they have not the understanding of a man they have not learned wisdom nor have they any knowledg of the Holy Let them be reckoned for Beasts in human shape Some have written as if they did not look upon Reason but Religion as the thing which makes the specifical difference
was not only thus with a profane Esau who might well be thought to have forfeited the blessing by his selling his Birthright but even good Iacob himself when he would have a blessing from Heaven he was constrained to wrestle with the Angel for it and to put forth all his strength in the conflict and to keep his hold though the Angel seâ—med willing to shake him off yea and to tell him at last that he would not let him go until he had got it Thus it hath been formerly Blessings come down from Heaven upon the wings of Prayer And what O man dost thou think that the Blessings of God are fallen so much in their price and grown so cheap at this day as that they go a begging Or that men may have them without asking for God hath been wont to stand more upon his Honour than so and therefore hath declared his will that Prayer shall come in between the Promise and the Performance he would have his People sue out the Promise before they shall have the good which is contained in it as is evident from that well-known Scripture Ezek. 36. we find the heart of God greatly inlarged to his People and Promises flowed in abundance from him and He gives them the assurance of his fixed resolution in the thing I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Do not you doubt call not my truth in question I will be as good as my word Yet observe what follows in the 37th verse Thus saith the Lord God I will yet be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them All those great and good things had been in the heart and purpose of God from eternity and now he was graciously pleased for their comfort to put them into his Promise but if they had a desire to have them they must send Prayer to Heaven for them Holy David tells us Psal. 3. 8. God's blessing is upon his People and certainly every one will grant that there is a great deal of reason why it should be upon them exclusive to all the World beside upon them and upon none but upon them they only have been by the Lord Iesus redeemed from the curse of the Law and therefore they only can lay a rightful claim to the Blessings of the Gospel God may yea and he every day doth give bread to his Enemies but surely as long as they continue his Enemies he will not give them his blessing and indeed why should they expect it But now O prayerless Soul how wilt thou prove thy self one of his People Thou hast upon thee those Spots which are not the Spots of his People when at the same time thou dost want those Marks which are the Marks of his People thou who spendest thy days without prayer dost pay no homage unto God thou ownest no dependence upon him thou givest him no reverence thou dost him no service thou bringest him no honour and I pray tell me why should his blessing be upon thee God may deal bountifully with thee possibly he doth do so already and gives thee waters of a full cup it is his manner many srcaps and good bits fall under his Table He lets them fall on purpose for his Dogs to gather up his Sun shines and his Rain falls upon barren Wildernesses and noysome Dunghills as well as upon fruitful Fields and pleasant Gardens Outward mercies are therefore called Common Mercies because all have their share in them the just and the unjust too the evil as well as the good so that the Wise Man tells us No man can know either love or hatred by all that is before him Therefore let no man be proud of his temporal Enjoyments nor of an elated Spirit because he is of a raised condition and stands upon the World 's upper ground If thou hast no other arguments to use but those thou fetchest from the World's Topicks thou wilt never prove thy self Heaven-born nor make out thy Title to the happiness and glory which is above God indeed may fill thy Pocket and spread thy Table furnishing it with variety of Dainties He may cram thy Bags and make thy Cup run over He may throw into thy Possession Houses and Lands as he gave Quales to the Israelites in his wrath and if thou wilt take the pains to turn over all thou hast and make as diligent search as thou canst thou wilt not find one blessing in it many a Creature and in every one a curse thy Cloaths have a plague in them witness thy Pride thy Table is thy snare witness thy excess and Riches are laid up by thee to thy hurt whilst thou makest them thy God which should be no more than thy Servants Thus it is with thee at present and thy present condition is thy best condition unless thou growest better that will not all that thou canst do is to rejoyce in sense thou must leave it to others to rejoice in hope But however if it will do thee any good and the Lord grant that it may we will enquire what is like to be hereafter Therefore Lastly Let us look on to the consequence and consider what will follow this sinful bruitish negect of your unquestionable duty You know your own Consciences tell you that you do not pray you are not convinced of any need that you have of it other things there are which you think you cannot be without such are your Jovial Companions and your vain antick Dresses but you can be and do very well without Prayer you taste no sweetness in it ranting and roaring is musick Healths and Huzza's Balls and Masques are ravishingly delicious but to you Prayer is a very dull and insipid business But I pray what will be at the last I would stain have my best at last and so would you too if you be wise if you have not your best at your latter end you will be found fools at your latter end I find an excellent wish concerning Israel of old whether it was God's wish or Moses's or both I am sure it was very good and carried in it a great deal of love Deut. 32. 24. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end By latter end there according to the judgment of Expolitors we are not so much to understand their death as the end and issue of that course which they were then steering O that they would seriously think with themselves and wisely foresee whither that way would bring them in which they were then walking It was a very smooth and pleasant way it was paved with delights but the great business was whither did it lead them It is my hearty wish for you whoever you are that you would once in a day retire your selves and get alone and seriously think what your total neglect of Prayer will produce when you are on a Death-bed and after Death in Eternity First What fruit you will have from
sin in him and with a load of guilt upon him He did indeed justify and applaud himself but God's Soul abhorr'd and loath'd him Whereas the poor humbled broken-hearted Publican stood a great way and prayed in the Spirit from an inward and deep sense of his own vileness and he was sent home to his House justified God gave him a Pardon and a Smile I shall not spend much time or pains about this sort of Men because I conclude their prejudice is so great that they will give very little heed to any thing that I shall say though delivered with all possible meekness and really designed for their good yet not knowing what it may please that God to do upon them who is the Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and hath the hearts of Men in his hand and can make what impressions upon them and changes in them seem good in his sight I shall not pass them by altogether in silence but offer to their consideration these two things which in my judgment carry something of weight in them First Places do not add any value to Actions of Religion so as to commend them to God I remember that which after the discourse of Cornelius Peter said unto him Acts 10. 34. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him And I may say as there is no respect of Persons with God so there is no respect of Places with God He hath no more esteem for the Chancel than for the body of the Church and that which is within the Rails is no more Sacred than that which is without them There is as near compendious and direct a way to the Throne of God from thy House O Believer as there is from the Church or the most magnificent Cathedral and those Supplications which are made and presented there with an holy heart by the assistance of the Divine Spirit and in the name of Christ shall find as free an access to God as ready an audience with him and as gracious an acceptance It is indeed by us and all granted That the Temple at Ierusalem was an holy place yea there was in it not only an Holy Place but the Holy of Holies God himself had sanctified it and appropriated it to his own most solemn service there he had been pleased to place his Name that was an excellent Type of the Lord Iesus our ever-blessed Mediator and where-ever the Iews were into what Countrey soever they were scattered or carried Captive they were to pray toward it Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time But that Temple being destroyed and not so much as one Stone left upon another that Church-state being at an end and that dispensation ceased I know no such thing as Holiness of Places here below The Synagogues among the Iews in the Land of Canaan were not Holy but only convenient places for them to meet together in for the performance of publick Worship and waiting upon God in the way of his Ordinances And our Churches at this day come not in the room of the Temple but of those Synagogues There was indeed a very great stir and hot contention in our Saviour's days and before about the place of Publick-worship between the Iews and the Samaritans The Iews were for the Temple built by Solomon at Ierusalem and they were in the right for that was the place which God had chosen and appointed On the contrary the Samaritans stood stifly for the Temple which had been built by their Ancestors upon Mount Gerizzim The Woman of Samaria having an opportunity put into her hands did in Iohn 4. 20. start the Question and propound it to our Saviour seeking as one saith to be by him satisfied about it as in a case of Conscience Now it is worth our while to observe his Answer thereunto which you have in Verse 21. Iesus said unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither at Ierusalem nor in this Mountain worship the Father Prayer Ordinances and the Worship of God shall not be restrained to this place nor to that it shall not be more pleasing powerful and prevalent in one place for the place's sake than it is in another Add hereunto that which the Holy Apostle Paul saith in 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Mark his manner of expression I will he speaks with Authority we may be sure he received this from the Lord. He would never have said I will had he not been sure that it was God's will it was God's will and therefore it was Paul's will But what was it That Men do not look to the place in which they pray but to the manner how they pray let them pray any where every where in what place they themselves judge fit and convenient so that their hands be washed in innocency and their hearts are but cleansed from their filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness Holy and pure Prayer shall be welcome to God and have a most gracious reception from what quarter or corner soever it comes We find that good Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God when he was in the Belly of the Fish which was so dark and dismal a place that he counted and called it the belly of Hell yet his Prayer made there did not lose its way nor fail of the end for which it was sent Ionah 2. 2. I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice Secondly I do advise and desire you to examine your selves and to be better studied in and acquainted with your own hearts than it may be as yet you are for I cannot but tell you though this be an excellent work and necessary for all that would manage Religion to everlasting advantage and approve themselves to God so it is in a particular manner necessary for them that lay so much stress upon places and other things of like nature to watch their hearts narrowly and to keep a very strict eye upon them lest by those superstitious observances they be found wanting to and of the very vitals of the Duty and hug and please themselves with a rotten and stinking Carcass where the Soul and Life are wanting and as our Lord said to the Pharisees Matt. 23. 23. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith They neglected the magnalia legis the great things of the Law while they were greatly solicitous about the minutula
the little things which did speak the unsoundness of their hearts so what shall we think of them who spend all or the greatest part of their care and heat about those things which come not under any express command of the Divine Law They that are most curious about their Bodies are as it is to be feared most careless about their Souls they spend so much time at their Glass that they have none for the Bible they are so careful that a Pin be not stuck amiss in their Cloaths that they leave every thing amiss in their Hearts by the Garbs and unreasonable Dresses in which some sillily proud persons come into the Assemblies it is easie for Spectators to determine how they spent and profan'd the Morning of the Sabbath at home and we may apprehend and fear the same in the present case that those persons who are so much set for such things as this are at least very apt and prone to bestow none of their care about that which deserves most they are so much for the place that they forget and neglect the heart they are so thoughtful where they pray that they do not mind how they pray they are so set for a form they do not mind nay possibly they hate the Power But by the way letâ—me whisper this in the ear of these persons That the Altar will not Sanctify a corrupt thing If you bring dead formal lifeless Prayers though you offer them up in your Consecrated Churches nay at your adored Altars they will not come up with a sweet smelling favour and acceptance before God I would not have any body think that I do God forbid that I should say A Form of Prayer and Formality of Heart are inseparable Companions I do not doubt but meer formal Professors are most for forms but I dare not affirm that all those who make use of Forms are meer formal Professors I do not doubt but some looking upon Forms as lawful and out of modesty and an humble sense of the lowness of their own parts do make use of Forms when they pray with others and are conscientious in the use of them and they do accompany the Petitions Confessions and Thanksgivings contained in them with sincere affections and do meet with a gracious acceptance with God and do enjoy a communion with his Holy Majesty But this I will also be bold to say and if any be offended at it upon them be it That constant stated forms of Prayer and Formality are borderers upon one another they live at no such great distance but that they frequently yea commonly meet together in the same Service and in the same Persons And really I am of the mind that it stands them in hand who make use of forms to be very cautious and look warily to themselves lest they do even before they are aware fall into formality that indifferency and lukewarmness of Spirit which God cannot endure When in the forequoted Scripture the Woman of Samaria fell into discourse with Christ about the place of Worship whether it ought to be at Ierusalem or in that Mountain viz. Gerizim our Saviour did wisely and graciously take her off from that as a matter not so momentous as to deserve either her Enquiry or his Resolution and fell to acquainting her with directing her to and putting herâ— upon the Spirituality of that Worship which is to be performed as that which she and every one ought principally to attend unto because it is that which the heart of God is most for and upon which his pure eyes are chiefly set 4 Iohn 23 24. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Spiritual Worship is most congruous and agreeable to God Childish Toys please Children who have no more wit outward Pomp and Ceremonies please vain men who have not so good hearts as they should but spiritual Worship is acceptable to that God who is himself a Spirit such Worshippers he seeks others he rejects when he finds them therefore you must be such if you would find favour or receive a Blessing And to shut up this particular I will only add That if men were once set as they should be for the spirituality of Worship they would not be so unreasonably eager as they are for nor so tetchy froward and contentious about Places Modes and Forms which can fetch their pedigree and original no higher than meer human Invention and Appointment Enough of that and it will be well if some persons do not think this a little too much VSE In the third and last branch of this Use of Reprehension my work will be to awaken rouze and startle to convince and bring those to judge and condemn themselves who live without secret Prayer I hear from some and I do more than partly believe it That there are many Professors and those too of some Name and Eminency who live under the dreadful guilt of this sinful omission and if there be some such how great may we suppose the total number to be of them who are this way chargeable tho' let them be never so many every one of them Man Woman and Child is known to that God who observes our down-lying and our up-rising and is acquainted with all our ways There are those that will come to publick Ordinances that they may not be counted Heathens nor suspected to be Papists which Party now blessed be God is under great infamy and reproach tho' not greater than they do deserve upon account of the very Principles of that cursed Religion which they have embraced and do profess Yea and they will attend upon those Ordinances which they think are most purely administred and also join themselves in Communion with those Churches which they look upon as being of the most Scriptural Constitution that so they may be reckoned among Christians of the highest Form and chiefest Rank yea and peradventure they will set up Family-duties they will call their Children and Servants together and all under their â—oof and Charge to seek the Lord lest upon a discontent or remove some-body within doors should tell tales by means whereof their reputation should be blasted and the truth of their Religion called in question by any of those to whom they are desirous yea ambitious of approving themselves But wretches as they are as for Prayer by themselves either in Chamber or in Closet or any where else they do lay it aside altogether God himself will be a swift Witness against them that He and they never so met together They find much other work and can do many other things when they are alone They can spend a great deal of time at the Glass viewing and dressing themselves they can tell their Money and read over their Bills and Bonds but as for Soul-searching
concurrence and effectual working of the Divine Spirit I might prevail with you I can say to the glory of God and desire to do it with thankfulness That these Discourses when Preached were not without some fruit oh that now I have been put upon the Publishing of them they may go and bring forth much more fruit Do not stand arguing the case it is a Thousand pities that any part of that should be made matter of Dispute which is or ought to be a matter of Practice Do not procrastinate and put it off Why shouldest thou say To morrow when it should be done to day and it may be thou shalt not have a morrow to do it in Fall immediately upon the performance When the Spouse would not open at the first knock and importâ—â—atâ— call but lay still asking questions and making excuses when she reflected upon her unkindness found her Bowels troubled within her and rose up and opened to her Beloved He to her grief and cost had withdrawn himself and was gone David's example doth command and deserve our imitation who could say Psalm 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments I beseech you out of hand answer the call make your Houses Churches and your Chambers Oratories send up such Prayers as may come before God like Incense and be in his Nostrils a sweet-smelling favour Though Man be a sociable creature and his nature carries him out to desire of communion and it is not good for him to be always alone yet it is best for him to be sometimes alone It will certainly conduce much to your advantage to converse frequently with your selves to search curiously into your own hearts that you may understand the better their frame and constitution to be asking your selves such important questions as no body elâ—e can answer and diligently enquire how matters stand with you whether you thrive or go backward A Merchant sees it necessary for him to be in his Counting-house as well as upon the Exchange whatever you do O Christians be not strangers at home be self-studied and self-acquainted And at other times yea and in the same retirement before you return to your secular affairs it will be for your interest to be conversing with your God you never go to him in a becoming manner but he gives you something that is worth your while a gracious Soul gets something even when as to its present sense and feeling it gets nothing In a Winter season though the Branches of the Tree look as if they were dead the Root is often water'd Tell me O Christian Have there not been such times in which thou hast found God speaking to thee Elihu indeed saith Job 33. 14. God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not Many a Man is so careless that he doth neither understand God nor mind he doth not perceive what God saith what his meaning is it is all a strange Language to him and he doth not perceive that God speaks he doth not think that God saith any to him Isa. 26. 11. Lord when thine hand is lifted up they will not see No they shut their eyes and are willingly ignorant and as they will not see when God's hand is lifted up so they will not hear when God's voice is lifted up The Saints if well and in health have all their senses exercised but wicked men have none of their senses exercised about the things of God But hast thou not perceived God speaking to thee once yea twice in divers manners By his Providences frowning and smiling prosperous and adverse by his Word and Ministers by his Holy and Blessed Spirit and by thine own Conscience which he hath awakened when it was drowsy and sleeping and opened its mouth and put words into it that it should say to thee Hath he not spoken to thee at divers seasons In a dream when thy eyes were shut and when awake abroad and at home when in company and when alone when up and when laid in a vision of the night as Elihu said when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the bed And he hath spoken to thee to divers purposes sometimes Precepts to direct thee sometimes Promises to revive thee now a Rebuke then a Cordial at one time Trouble and at another time Peace Thus according to thy case and exigency he hath varied his Applications Now hath God spoken so often to you and do you find nothing to say to God Will you be always in the possession and under the power of a dumb Devil Are you so full of goodness and comfort so rich in knowledg and grace so increased in mercies and blessings of all sorts that you have no more to ask Do you find that to be a Canaan a Heaven which others call a Wilderness because of pinching wants and pricking Thorns and Beasts of prey Is your mouth so filled as that you need no more to open it wide nay not at all Remember how Laodicea was mistaken about her own case pleasing her self in such high but vain conceits when indeed she was wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. Are things so well with thee that thou hast no reason for a sigh nor room for a groan Is it so throughly and perfectly well with thy Soul with thy Body with thine Estate with thy Family and Relations with the Nation and Church of God that thou hast no complaint to make to him not one boon to beg of him Is thy day so serene and fair that there is no cloud appearing Is there no sin within that is too hard for thee Doth it never war against the Law in thy mind or doest thou immediately knock it down and get a complete victory at thy first entrance into the field Hast thou quite shaken off that body of death which poor Paul could not for his heart get rid of but carried up and down with him or hath it grown less trouble some and ceased to stink in thy Nostills Is there no burtheâ— upon thy back that is too heavy for thee Is there no wound in thy Conscience that puts thee to pain is there no plague in thine heart that needs a cure If thou beest indeed a Believer a Man or Woman in Christ I grant the cure is begun and dare assure thee that being in the hand of so great a Physician it shall be carried on but what is it perfected already In a word is there nothing at all that troubles thee or hast thou nothing to say to God in private what nothing but what thou wouldest have every body hear and know But I pass by that at present we shall by and by have a fitter opportunity of speaking more concerning it Come come Christian be thine own Friend better than ever thou hast been yet and without more ado be persuaded to get alone and shut thy door and fall down upon thy knees and pour out thy Soul into the bosom
of thy heavenly Father I am confident if thou wilt begin it in good earnest thou wilt not easily give it over I do not indeed know what interruption the Devil may give thee who hates all the Work of God and good of Man but if by temptation thou shouldest for a time be taken off from it thou wilt not be well nor able to enjoy thy self till thou dost return to it again I dare say in an humble holy and beliâ—ving performance thou wilt experience such incompâ—rable sweetness and so much benefit and advantage accruing to thee that thou wilt go on and call upon God as long as thou livest and then expire thy Soul in the same manner as Stephen did whose last words were Prayer Acts 7. 59. Lord Iesus receive my spirit and Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep That which I have further to do will be in these two things 1. Lay down Motives to the work 2. Give Directions for managing it I shall begin with the Motives for the alluring and drawing you to this excellent work who have hitherto been altogether strangers to it or very backward and by consequence inconstant off and on and I shall most heartily rejoice if the Lord would graciously please to succeed these endeavours so that what I shall suggest to you may bring you upon your knees that there may be more of this Chamber-practice more of a Chamber-fellowship and Closet-communion with your God The Motives are these First Do you pray in secret because that God who is the proper Object of Prayer seeth in secret as trusting in him you do at no time and in no condition trust in a God that cannot save so directing your Prayers to him you do in no place pray unto a God that cannot hear When Hagar had in a fear fled from the face of her incensed Mistress God found her out in the Wilderness where she was absconded and appeared and spake unto her there whereupon it is said in Gen. 16. 13. That she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou God seest me for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me We may as some do reckon these words to be words of reprehension as relating to herself and words of admiration as referring to God Have I also looked after him Here I am but how stupid and foolish have I been I have been looking back to the Comforts which I had when in the Family and under the wing of my Master Abraham and I have been looking to the displeasure and severity of my Mistress Sarahâ—â— and I have been looking to the desolate place and distressed condition into which I am now brought but have I here minded God and looked after God I have been so afflicted with my loss and have pored so much upon my troubles that I have been unmindful of God did find neither heart nor leisure to think of Him or look after Him a Case it is too common among the children of men yet here he â—eeth me and minds me here he looks upon my person and upon my affliction and sorrow And maist not Thou my Friend say the very same when thou art alone and in thy Closet-recesses Thou God seest me When no soul living is by when no mortal eye seâ—th me then Thou God seest me Now let me desire thee after that serious consideration to propound this as a serious Question to thy self Have I also here looked after him that seeth me God's eyes have been here upon me but have mine eyes been again upon God and unto God It may be thou art able to say In the publick Congregation I have looked after that God who seeth me there I have had many frequent repeated and raised thoughts at him there I have waited for him more than they that watch for the morning yea more than they that watch for the morning But when thou art in thy Chamber canst thou make thy Appeal to God and say O Lord thou knowest and art my witness that even here I have looked after thee that seest me here mine eyes of Faith and Prayer have been toward the Lord that seeth me This is an Argument which our deâ—râ—st Lord Jesus maketh use of in the Text That your Father seeth in secret The Royal Prophet saith Psalm 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence The Question speaks it a thing impossible to be done His eye is fastned upon thee and follows thee whithersoever thou goest look to thy self and ponder all thy actions thou art under the pure and piercing and all-discerning eye of the infinitely Great and Glorious Majesty when thou art in the Congregation and in the Street and in the Shop and in the Kitchen yea and when thou art in the Closet too And since he doth see thee there what wouldst thou have him see thee doing wouldst thou have him see nothing but vanity in thy mind and corruption in thy heart wouldst thou have him see nothing done by thee but looking into thy Glass and into thy Chests and Bags or turning over thy Fineries and Fooleries and so feeding thy Wantonness and Pride or making provision for a perishing Carkass to deck and adorn it or gratifie a bruitish and sensual Appetite but never see thee upon thy knees seeking his face and favour or the good of thine own precious and never-dying Soul Oh that His Eye might affect your Hearts That Divine Eye which is upon all your ways and looks you thorow and thorow That Eye which is ten thousand times yea inconceivably more than the eyes of all the Angels in Heaven and of all the Men upon Earth The Eye of God should among others have these two effects upon us and upon all men that know and own him First It should awe us Seâ—ondly It should quicken and animate us It should awe us when we are in secret and be an effectual curb to those Lusts and Corruptions which would otherwise break loose and grow rampant When no body is by do not dare to sin because God is by This preserved young Ioseph from falling before a great temptation When he might have procured the savour of his Mistress and as some would have thought have done himself a kindness this thought brake the neck of the temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Again the Eye of God should animate and put life into you it should as a golden Spur quicken you to the careful and lively performance of Duty when you are in secret and no body at hand to take notice of it and make report Let it be enough for you enough alone that God seeth your love to him and the desires of your Souls to his Name and a remembrance of him and communion with him and He needs none to inform him of your unmindfulness and neglect of him no no He
seeth it himself He seeth where your thoughts are He understands them afar off and He seeth where your hearts are so it appears by the charge he gave out against Israel of old This people draweth near unto me with their lips but their hearts are far from me And I would â—ain know of you how it is possible but that he should take it very unkindly at your hands and be highly offended if that he should be slighted by you who is so excellent and glorious in himself and so absolutely necessary for you and unto whom you are so everlastingly beholden and obliged How can he otherwise chuse but be angry with you if in your leisure-time and at your spare hours you will not give him a visit if you cannot find in your hearts to bestow some of that time upon him which you have to spare from your earthly Friends and worldly Business When he seeth this how canst thou think but that his fury will come up into his face Secondly Praying in secret is a very good â—nd comfortable sign of sincerity I do not say that it is a certain and infallible sign and that every one that sets upon this work hath indeed the Spirit of Adoption and may from thence arrive to an assurance of Sonship and draw an undeniable conclusion That he is born again for I do very well know there is no external act of Religion which an hypocrite may not set his hand to As Reputation and Credit among men may bring them out to publick Ordinances so that they shall come as the people cometh and sit before their Minister as the people sitteth and hear his words Ezek 33. 31. so an enlightned awakened uneasie and importunate Conscience may bring them upon their knees in private An hypocrite's heart is really in no piece of the work of God while he draws nearest to him with his lips that is far from him how indeed can he raise that up to God which he hath set upon his iniquity Yet he may have a finger in every thing that is of the out-side A Iehu knows how to be zealous against Idolatry and for the Lord when so to be paves his way to a Throne tho' when he has once got it and is warm in it he himself would be as bad as any 2 Kings 10. 31. Iehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Ieroboam which made Israel to sin A Soul would sacrifice yea was too hasty at it and a Pharisee would pray in the Temple and Synagogue and those hearts run after their Covetousness and would not be obedient to the Word of God would yet go out to hear it And I do not know but persons of the like Spirits and Principles as rotten at heart as any of them may set upon Religious Actions when they are alone they may when by themselves take up a Bible or good Book and read in it and they may when there is need fall upon their knees and offer up their requests unto God An hypocrite may be at duty in his Closet tho' his heart never be with God in duty neither in his Closet nor any where else But now observe this is not so acceptable to him it is not that which he takes pleasure and delight in he is put upon it he is under a force Conscience offers violence and drag him into it as Ioab when he saw Justice would take hold on him at the last tho' it is probable he never had any great love for the Altar yet then he would â—â—ee and catch hold of the Horns of it and would even die there But I say this is not the matter of their delight they do if not so much out of choice as cut of constraint it is not That which they take pleasure in and because it is not their pleasure therefore it is noâ— their practice They may do such a thing now and then in a straight when they are put to a pinch but they do not make it their Trade Our Saviour tells us where we are most like to meet with them if we have a mind to find them at their Devotions that is in the Synagogues and the corners of the streets If you would find them in their wickednesses for hypocrites are Villains they make use of Religion for no other end but as a Cloak to cover their Knavery and there is a great deal of that which some of them are guilty of God is pleased now and then to pluck off their Masques and oh what Deformities do then visibly appear in their lives and conversations When their Paint is once off there are no persons so ugly But as I was saying if you would find them in their wickednesses then look for them in the dark and in holes it is not for their Interest it is inconsistent with their design to be so impudent and brazen-fac'd as the profane Crâ—w who glory in their shame no no these are sneaking wretches who would steal their sins and no body know of them But if you would find them at their Devotions do but listen and you may possibly hear their Trumpet found or if not the best way is to look for them in some noted and frequented places the Synagogues and corners of streets Publick places are the hypocrites haunts for they are most convenient and proper for the carrying on of their design which is not to be approved of God but seen of men And this I say Though secret Prayer and the performance of other duties of Godliness in secret be not a certain and infallible Argument of an heart renewed by Grace and upright with God yet it is a very good Argument Tho' it be not such an Evidence of Grace as alone will put it out of all doubt and question yet it is a good Evidence and will do much in a cumulative way and in conjunction with other things And tho' he may be a wicked man who doth several things that every good man cannot but do yet he cannot be a good man who doth not do those things A wicked man may be found in a good way but he is not a good man who always turns his back upon a good way and doth never walk in the Law of the Lord. So here tho' he may be an Hypocrite who doth pray in secret yet he cannot be a Saint who never prays in secret He who doth not desire and maintain secret Communion with God hath not whatever his pretences may be an heart indeed set for God The hearts of men are curiously searched into now and they shall all be openly discover'd at the last and when the day of manifestation shall câ—me he that now is not for being with God when he is alone will then be found and condemned as one that hath not been for God at all And this I do positively lay down as an undeniable Truth That
love to fellowship with God in secret doth speak a real love to God Tho' a person may pray in secret and yet be unsound and rotten yet a person hath an heart sound in God's Statutes who so prays in secret as not to be satisfied with the work done unless he be with God in it i. e. sensibly find God coming to him with the communications of his Grace and the sweet discoveries of his Covenant-love or at least his soul working out to God in holy desires and longings Thirdly Thou canst not but be conscious to thy self of a great many secret sins with which thou art chargeable before God and is there not a great deal of reason why thou shouldst perform secret Duties where thou didst commit secret Sins and that those places should be witnesses of thy fear of God and love to him which have been frequent witnesses of thy neglect of God and rebellion against him There are indeed those who commit uncleanness with greediness and act â—n with highest impudence they do so dearly love and delight in it that they are not at all ashamed of it but can without a blush do the Devil's drudgery the dirtiest and basest of his work Hence as in one place this is the complaint They draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as with cart-ropes so in another place viz. Isa. 3. 9. the complaint is thus They declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not no not they but like some who think they can mend what a better than they have made they carry their black spots in their very faces and glory in their shame Phil. 3. 19. Formerly indeed men were more modest they cast a Mantle over their Nakedness and did the works of darkness in the dark Paul saith in his time They that were drunk were drunk in the night but now wickedness is grown more common and men more audacious and they do not avoid the light of the Sun nor the eyes of men the open street and the noon-day are thought now as convenient time and place as any other they are grown so desperate that they care not what they do they will run upon the mouth of the Cannon the bosses of God's Buckler and so impudent that they care not who seeth them as 2 Sam. 16. 22. There was a tent spread for Absalom upon the top of the house and Absalom went in unto his father's conâ—â—bines in the sight of all Israel Yea these wretches when they have acted to their utmost and sinned as they could do not yet so tire and weary themselves in the Devil's service but that they will find something to do at home and give some stroaks there to the further pleasing of their tyrannical Lord and graâ—ifying their insatiate Lust. The Scripture speaking of uncleanness tells us of eyes that cannot cease to sin cannot brook an intermission they are not at rest any longer than they are at work they are looking round about for new Objects and every such Object inflames them and by it away they are carried to fresh transports of defiling folly and madness But I have dwelt too long upon these Vassals of Satan and sworn Votaries of the Flesh let us turn our thoughts another way and consider whether the Children of God themselves have not their secret Vanities Follies and Extravagancies When didst thou so put off the Old Man that there was none of his deeds to be found in thine hands What stream hath flowed from thee which hath run clear nay what drop that was perfectly pure Name that place if thou canst in which thou hast not done more than enough to pollute thy Soul to wound thy Conscience to offend and provoke thy God Ask thy own Conscience O Christian and let that tell thee Hath not God seen thy pride in thy Closet and thy worldly-mindedness hath he not been privy and eye-witness to thy unbelief and shameful distrusts of his fatherly Love and Care hath he not been acquainted with thy froward passions and swelling discontents when at any time his Providence ruâ— cross to thy humour or seemingly to thine interest hath he not heard thy murmurings and repinings when thou couldst not get the good thing thou hadst a mind to or didst lose what rhou hadst set thy heart too much upon Possibly many of these things thou hast forgotten but God hath them sealed up in a Bag they are all in the light of his Countenance I have often considered those expressions of holy David who was a precious Saint tho' his great miscarriages spake him far from a perfect one and I do advise you to consider them too and heartily wish you would Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults It is a thing utterly impossible for man to understand himself perfectly it is a mercy for him to understand his way but he cannot understand all his deviations As a Christian doth not understand his progress so not his wandrings and as for his faults there are some of them so secret that tho he be very circumspect and wary tho' he doth with utmost diligence study himself his heart and life yet he doth not know them they are secret some of them to him he doth not know them to be sins they seem lawful unto him when they are not so his ways are right in his own eyes but not in God's eyes which are purer than his some of them he doth not take any notice of such is our foolish incogitancy that many actions pass from us which we do not seriously ponder before we do them neither do we with any due deliberation reflect upon them when done Again a man hath other faults open to him they stare him in the face and his own Conscience doth roundly tell him of them but there is a veil of darkness drawn over them so that they are secret to all the world beside Some are such Masters in the Black-Art that they can lead a very bad Life and yet keep a very good Name Oh! what abominations did the Ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark Ezek. 8. Every man in the chambers of his imagery Will you be persuaded to sit down a little and take a review of your lives and consider what iniquities you commit in the Chambers of your privacy how many are they and how great You your selves know most of that tho' I know nothing Your own Consciences will tell you what no body else can I advise and beseech you to consult them and to give them leave to speak all they have to say do not stop their mouths nor hold the truth in unrighteousness And let us now bring this to the business in hand and see if there be not something of weight and cogency in the Argument Have you your secret Sins and will you not have your secret Duties Have you your secret Provocations and is it not sit that you should have your secret Supplications Will you
and thy countenance is comely When she is most retired and absconded Christ loves both to see her and hear her tho' she be Sun-burnt with Persecution and sooted with Infirmities yet her Countenance is comely in the eye of Christ because there he seeth his own and his Father's Image and tho' her Prayers be broken and as the chatterings of a Crane yet the voice is sweet in the ear of Christ because it is the language of his own Spirit And although our Lord spake this to his Spouse the Church yet it may be applied to particular Christians who are Parts and Members of the Church and may take the comfort of it to themselves When Elijah was as you heard and we noted before under the Juniper-Tree God was pleased to come and join himself to him and would have from his own mouth an account of his Case and the reason of his withdrawing himself What dost thou here Elijah what was it that brought thee hither and what is it that thou wouldst have of me Know O holy Soul thou standest in the same relation to God and hast the same interest in him and maist promise thy self the same kindness God will not think it too much for his Majesty to come to thee alone when desired and when he comes to bring with him a blessing for thee though thou takest none here to back thee hast not a Friend on Earth to join in the Suit yet do thou go and state thine own case draw up thy Petition and present it unto God with an hand of faith setting the name of Christ to it and God will presently add his fiat his Amen though it may be the answer shall not presently be given in to thee yet the grant shall be past in Heaven thy Father will say Be it unto this soul even as it will Nay he will not only give the thing if it be good for thee but more too and while thou askest like a Child he will answer thee like a God A most gracious assurance hereof you have in the words of the Text from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself who is the faithful and true witness Thy father which seeth in secreâ— shall reward thee openly He sees the sincerity of thy heart and the importunity of thy desires he seeth how thou labourest at the Oar and what pains thou hast taken and with what great wrestlings thou hast wrestled and having seen he will reward the work is done and the reward is to come So then if thou wilt believe Christ thou shalt not lose thy labour thou shalt not have pangs and throws of Soul and after all bring forth nothing but wind never did any one Holy Prayer fall short of Heaven and drop by the way the great God is not wont to set his Children about any unprofitable work Paul I am sure was of that mind when he said in 1. Cor. 15. last Be stedfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. As their grievous sufferings turn them to a very good account so shall all their holy actions There is never an appointment of duty for them but it carrieth in its Bowels a design of Mercy He saith not to the seed of Iacob seek ye my face in vain the preparing and engaging of their hearts to pray speaks his readiness and resolution to incline his ear to hear When he bids them open their mouths it is that he might fill them He would not have them give a knock at his door to no purpose but hath promised when they do it shall be opened to them and when he opens his door he will open his heart and hand too and not send them away empty When he bids them seek it is in order to their finding and that which they find shall be worth their while and pay them for all the pains they took to be sure they shall not have cause to complain as those that sit down losers and have a disappointment of their expectations Nay further our Saviour tell us that he will reward us openly He will not be ashamed that the World should see how he useth his Servants they shall see there is a reward for the Righteous and though the Devil was a Fool in going about to charge rotten sordid designs and a mercenary selfishness upon Iob yet he himself was forced to acknowledg that Iob did not serve God 〈◊〉 nought He will reward thee openly both here and hereafter before Angels and Men as you have compassed his Altar with your Supplications so will he compass you about with Favour and with Songs he will make it manifest he will convince his enemies a foolish wicked and ungrateful World of all the hard speeches which they had spoken against him they themselves shall see it false That it is a vain thing to serve God he will by his liberal rewards given them extort from them this acknowledgment That the Lord is good to them that wait upon him and to the soul that seeks him especially it shall be thus at the last and great day which will be the day of recompences the day in which God will make up his Iewels and set them not in Gold but in Glory Then as you have it in Mal. 3. 18. yea then indeed shall ye discern between the righteous and the wicked betweem him that serveth God and him that serveth him not between him that seeketh God and him that seeketh him not between him that prayeth and him that prayeth not Then there shall be an apparent and manifest difference the stone-blind World those that are wickedly wilfully blind shall see it to their vexation and torment These are the motives by which I did design and do hope to work upon your hearts these the Silken Cords of a Man the Rational Arguments with which I would alluâ—e and draw you to the conscientious chearful performance of this excellent necessary and Soul-chearing Soul-fattening Duty of Secret-Prayer and oh that I might hear you have been wrought upon by them and prevailed with Now that you might do this work well and not fail as to the right management of it and so not miss and fall short of those singular benefits and advantages which come by it I shall afford you what assistance I judge needful in the case and in silence passing over those Directions which refer to Prayer in general I shall give you up some that do particularly concern and relate to Secret-Prayer they are these I beseech you mind and Practise them First Make thy secret approaches to God with the greatest solemnity of Spirit that thou canst though thou goest in the multitude of mercies and with faith in Christ and with hope of finding Grace yet be sure that in his fear thou worship toward his Holy Temple though thou art alone and without any here to be an eye-witness do thou draw nigh unto him with as great an â—we